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The Deck of Taroch
The Deck of Taroch is said to be the deck of the legendary archmagus Taroch the Wise, and is known to contain the power to manifest most anything within one's reality, from riches to death itself. In reality, it is not the complete deck at all, consisting only of 22 cards. What happened to the remainder is a mystery. Use with caution, or not at all. Great reward is possible through its use, or catastrophic calamity, both on a random basis. Legends and cautionary tales throughout all lands tell of this artefact and its deadliness, so any character (or player!) who chooses to draw from it has no excuse for wallowing in their self-created misery. *'XI - Justice/"Balance":' You begin to be filled with urges and fantasies associated with the alignment "opposite to your own". If you are lawful good, your mind is continually plagued by base and perverted cognitions befitting someone of chaotic evil alignment. If you are neutral evil, you are inexplicably drawn to acts of kindness and wise conduct in the way that a neutral good character is, and find faith in the world's operation. Whether your character eventually chooses to indulge or resist these temptations or invitations to another mode of being, this card should provide excellent opportunities for roleplaying. The impulses will not cease until either the character's alignment eventually comes into line with their intrusive fantasies or a means of stopping them is established (this should require very, very powerful magic). *'The Queen of Pentacles/"Dust":' Every magic item within 5 feet of you disintegrates immediately, without any opportunity for resistance. *'The Page of Swords/"The Knight":' You gain the service of the Knight of Taroch, a mysterious being whose face is concealed behind a black helmet. Believed by many to be a golem created by Taroch but abandoned for its unpredictability in combat, legends state that this entity's imprisonment inside the card was the only means Taroch could find to get rid of it, for it is truly indestructible. *'V - The Heirophant/"The Key":' You are disappointed (or perhaps relieved) that nothing happens when this card is drawn. will soon happen across a rare and powerful magical item in a manner that seems purely coincidental or totally mundane. *'XV - The Demon/"Oblivion":' You gain the enmity of a great and terrible demon which, known to you or not, now seeks to track you down and consume your soul, carrying it off to the black chaos of Oblivion. The entity may manifest instatly and attack, or take many weeks to finally get to you. Your allies and family might well be at risk if they can be used to locate your whereabouts, and the fiend shows no mercy (quite the opposite, in fact). *'XVII - The Star/"Shine":' One of your attributes, randomly selected, increases permanently by 1 point. *'The Ten of Swords/"Impalement": '''All defence and resistance rolls you make are at a -1 penalty until you find a way to "confront the fates", whatever that means. The card isn't telling you, that's for sure. *'The Two of Pentacles/"The Idiot": Your INT attribute permanently decreases by 5 points. *'''The Eight of Swords/"The Astral Sea": Your mortal body continues to function, but your soul is whisked off to another plane of existence within the astral, randomly selected, in a random location. Until you find a way to escape your imprisonment your body is in a totally catatonic state. *'The Moon/"The Eye":' You gain 1-3 uses of the "Wish Come True" spell listed under the Fate sphere. *'The Five of Swords/"The Rogue":' Unbeknownst to you, one of your closest allies suddenly develops a great hostility towards you. Murderous actions against you are unlikely, but not entirely out of the question. *'The Hanged Man/"The Sacrifice":' You instantly gain a number of levels equal to your current level/10, rounded down (minimum 1), to be added to your character after the current session has been resolved. *'The Seven of Cups/"The Gem":' Nothing happens when this card is drawn, but it has a peculiar golden aura when turned face up. In the near future, through coincidence or seemingly mundane (but probably improbable) events, you come into the possession of large amounts of copper, gold and silver coins alongside many rare and valuable gems of immeasurable value. *'XIX: The Sun/"Heaven":' You gain 1 level to be added at the end of the current game session, and you will soon happen across a holy item of note. *'IX: The Hermit/"The Vizier":' A peculiar spirit appears to you and follows you about invisibly. Once only, at any time in the future you may ask this being any question and instantly receive an answer that you can apply in an unambiguous and immediately useful way. Then the being disappears to the causal planes. *'The Four of Wands/"The Throne":' You gain a permanent +1 bonus to Diplomacy and Guile checks, and in addition, events will conspire to grant you the ownership of a substantial area of land and a keep within it. This keep may be the castle of a thriving town or an almost ruined foundation out in the forests of a forgotten valley. Whichever is the case, you are to become the ruler - it has been written upon the fabric of fate. *'The Four or Swords/"The Dungeon":' You will soon be captured or otherwise trapped within a formidable underground location full of deadly peril and with little chance of escape. *'XVI - The Tower/"Ruin": '''All of your possessions will soon be destroyed, stolen from you or lost in some other mysterious or mundane way, leaving you a pauper with a wealth stat of 0. *'The Fool/"Beginning":' A situation soon befalls you which forces you to adopt a mode of life and an outlook on life radically different from the one you currently hold. *'The Two of Swords/"The Comet":' A powerful extradimensional entity emerges from a membrane and challenges you to single combat. If you accept and defeat it, you gain a level at the end of the session. *'XIII - Death/"The Skull":' A towering spirit of death appears and attacks you. If you somehow defeat it, you live. If not, it will kill you and your soul will naturally enter the Land of the Dead in order to enter a new cycle of rebirth. If the death spirit was defeated by you personally, your next death by killing, disease etc. may be cancelled if you wish and the very same death spirit will grant your soul passage back into your body and so return you to life in health. If you do not die an unnatural death, you find that your natural life is greatly extended, perhaps by decades. *'The Three of Cups/"Reversal":''' The fabric of reality and time itself unravels and re-ravels harmlessly to allow you to erase one event completely from your past while maintaining your position in the present. This power is usable only once and granted by a mysterious entity which calls itself "Chlo-ysaac-erix". This being is visible to those it wishes to be witnessed by and converses freely with most who speak with it, but talks cryptically in an unnerving way. Those who befriend it may learn that it is a powerful enemy of the goddess Szasra.